An occupant detection system and method may include a user interface and at least one sensor to determine if there is an occupant in the vehicle. In one embodiment, the system and method use capacitive sensing sensors embedded into a cushion and/or back of seats in a vehicle. The capacitive sensor sends a sense signal to a controller and the controller would recognize various conditions such as an empty seat or a seat occupied by a person or animal. It could also determine if there was a child seat in a position on a vehicle seat and if there is a child in the child seat.

An occupant detection apparatus includes a first camera and a second camera. The first camera is arranged in a passenger compartment of a vehicle to capture images within a first field of view in the passenger compartment. The second camera is arranged at a different position in the passenger compartment from the first camera to capture images within a second field of view in the passenger compartment. The second field of view is different from the first field of view. Moreover, the first camera is arranged within the second field of view which is the field of view of the second camera. On the other hand, the second camera is arranged within the first field of view which is the field of view of the first camera.

A system for detecting vibrations from a surface is provided. The system includes a coherent light source for projecting a multi-beam pattern onto the surface and an imaging device for mapping a speckle field generated by each spot formed on the surface by the multi-beam pattern to a unique region of an imaging sensor. The system further includes a processor for processing speckle field information received by the imaging sensor and deriving surface vibration information.

A system for detecting vibrations from a surface is provided. The system includes a coherent light source for projecting a multi-beam pattern onto the surface and an imaging device for mapping a speckle field generated by each spot formed on the surface by the multi-beam pattern to a unique region of an imaging sensor. The system further includes a processor for processing speckle field information received by the imaging sensor and deriving surface vibration information.

A motor vehicle seat with an integrated child seat, the child seat comprising inflatable chambers that can be brought from a compressed The child seat includes air chambers that are inflatable in multiple, e.g., three, stages, and which are fixed, e.g., adhesively bonded or stitched, to the surface of the motor vehicle seat.

A capacitive detection system for detecting occupancy of a vehicle seat includes a signal generating unit and a signal evaluation unit. The vehicle seat has a seat heater member configured for receiving time-varying output signals of the signal generating unit. The signal evaluation unit is configured to generate an output signal that is indicative of the seat heater member to be defective, if the sensed capacitance of the seat heater member is less than a second predetermined threshold value for the sensed capacitance.

A system for detecting vibrations from a surface is provided. The system includes a coherent light source for projecting a multi-beam pattern onto the surface and an imaging device for mapping a speckle field generated by each spot formed on the surface by the multi-beam pattern to a unique region of an imaging sensor. The system further includes a processor for processing speckle field information received by the imaging sensor and deriving surface vibration information.

A method for activating a lock in a vehicle includes capturing an image of an interior of a vehicle, the image comprising an occupant on a seat of the vehicle, detecting a weight value of the occupant on a respective seat of the vehicle, processing the image for determining whether the occupant is a human or an object or an animal, processing, in response to the determination that the occupant is the human, the image for determining a parameter of the human, and activating a lock based on the parameter, or the weight value and the parameter.

An occupant discrimination system of a vehicle seat includes a load detecting portion disposed on a lower side of a seat and detecting a load acting on the seat; an occupant discrimination portion discriminating a state of an occupant among a no occupant state, adult seated state, and child seat fixed states based at least on a load detected from the load detecting portion and a load continuation duration.

A mounted object detection device includes: a load sensor in which a plurality of sensor parts each configured to detect a load are disposed in a matrix shape; and a controller configured to detect a situation of a mounted object on the load sensor on the basis of an output from the load sensor. The controller: detects a load distribution on a detection region of the load sensor on the basis of an output from the load sensor; discerns which of a person or animal and a thing the mounted object is, on the basis of the load distribution; and when having discerned that the mounted object is a thing, discerns whether or not a person or an animal is mounted on the thing, on the basis of temporal change in the load distribution.